An overview of the Gospel of Judas

By:  Moses Flores

 

 

 

I.  What is the Gospel of Judas?

 

Gnostic text from the mid-second century (ca. 150 A.D.), which was circulating under the false pretense that it was written by Judas Iscariot containing conversations not recorded in the canonical Gospels

 

To many people, the word “Gnostic” might be strange and unfamiliar, but we should know “Gnosticism” was an ancient heresy, indeed one could argue the first heresy of the Christian Church.

 

In order to understand the Gospel of Judas, we should understand some basic elements of Gnosticism that we may clearly see the Gnostic leanings in the text of the Gospel of Judas.

 

 

II.  Gnosticism Explained

 

The term “Gnostic” comes from the Greek word “gnosis” which means “knowledge”.  Thus, the Gnostics were those people who knew something.  These were the only ones who had all the secrets of the universe and it was their distinct knowledge about God, especially, that gave them salvation.

 

What was this knowledge?  What makes their knowledge of God better than the Judeo-Christian knowledge of God available at the time?

 

1)      Dualistic Existence:

 

Spirit vs. Matter

 

 

In Gnosticism, Spirit alone is the ultimate good, and matter is evil.  So, following this through to its logical conclusions, the God of the Bible who created the world is actually evil.  Contrary to the teachings of the Bible as well, Gnosticism asserts that the God of the Bible is not the only god, nor is he the most powerful.  Instead, he is a far lower deity, for the “one true God” is pure spirit and is not associated with the material realm in any way whatsoever (transcendence) because it is evil.  The God of this world, whom Judeo – Christian belief knows as YHWH, is known as “El” in Gnostic thought.

 

2)      Origin of God

 

 

 

3)      Where we fit in

 

Some of us are mere creatures of “El” – the God of this world.  We are purely material with nothing spiritual.  Once those like this die, that will be the end of their existence. 

 

However, there are some who, though created by El, carry a “spark of the divine” within them.  Thus, these are like “trapped divinities” in human flesh.

 

But how would one ever come to the knowledge that there is a spark of the “light world” in them?  How would one awaken that knowledge?  It cannot be done by looking at the world around us since this is a material world, indeed the very world that we would need salvation from.  Enter: Jesus Christ.

 

4)      Christ’s role

 

According to Gnostic thought, Jesus Christ was an emissary from the “light world” sent to tell those who have a “spark of the divine” within them that there is more to them than their material bodies.  It is Jesus who comes to tell us of our origin from the One True God. 

 

Thus, salvation, according to this view is not through faith alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ, but rather through the knowledge that our true selves are not of this world but of another realm far removed from this one. 

 

Hence, the “knowledge” that brings salvation is more of a self knowledge about who we really are, where we are really from and how we can return to our true heavenly home. 

 

This is the knowledge of Gnosticism that was often hid behind an image of Christ.  It was the wolf hiding behind the sheep’s clothing.

 

5)      Gnosticism’s doctrine vs. Christian theology

Concerning Christ –

 

a)      the denial of the humanity of Christ.  This follows necessarily since material is evil, it would be inconsistent for an emissary of the “light world” to have a material body, or at the very least, to be comfortable with it.  Hence, the early denial of the incarnation.  In fact, the book of I John deals with an early form of Gnosticism which denied that Christ was really “God in the flesh” (cf. I John 4:1-4).

 

b)      The denial of Christ as Creator – John 1:1-3 and Colossians 1:15-18 make the unmistakable assertions that all things have been created through Jesus Christ, and there is nothing created that has not been created through Him.  However, Gnosticism denies this since it would mean a member of the “light world” would be creating evil, since material was evil.

 

c)      The denial of the resurrection – I Corinthians 15:12-19 teach the futility of not believing in the resurrection and yet wanting to live with an assurance that our sins have been forgiven.  “If Christ is not raised, then you are still in your sins.”  The Gnostics, and this is probably the thought that Paul is countering, taught that the resurrection could not have happened since material.  The logic is that since material is evil, it would be preposterous for the emissary of the light world to rise from death (which some Gnostic thought believes didn’t even occur) into a physical, material body again. 

 

Concerning God –

 

a)      the denial of the doctrine of the Trinity – Christ and “el” could not be the same in substance if one is of the light world and the other of the dark and evil material world.

 

b)      the attributes of God – God is not completely sovereign; God is not all powerful, nor is he all loving, etc…

 

Concerning Salvation –

 

a)  Salvation is not through “faith alone” but rather through “knowledge alone”.  This had some implications on various Gnostics sects.  For example, if salvation is through knowledge alone, and the material is not essential, then it does not really matter what you do with your body.  Thus, If it didn’t matter, as some asserted, then would that mean that one could engage in sin, including sexual sins, with no fear of any punishment from God since the material god was not the true god.  Indeed, this was the case in some instances. 

 

 

III.  Gnosticism and the Gospel of Judas

 

Now that we know (no pun intended) about the teachings of the Gnostics, let us examine some portions of the Gospel of Judas and see the elements of Gnosticism begin to pop out at us.  This will not be an exhaustive examination, but only of a sufficient amount of text to show that the Gospel of Judas is part of the Gnostic literature.

 

 

 

A)  “The Gospel of Judas”

 

Immediately from the title, in the original language of Coptic which the text was written in, we should not a difference from the original Gospel accounts.  The original Gospel accounts are titled “ according to Matthew”, etc…  Thus, there “good news” is from their respective point of view.  The Gospel of Judas, however, is not a Gospel account according to Judas.   Rather, it is the good news of Judas.  Thus, the Gospel of Judas is the good news about Judas and not the Gospel as Judas saw it.  What did Judas have that prompted a Gospel to be written about him?  The opening line of the Gospel of Judas reveals this…

 

B)                 “The secret account of the revelation that Jesus spoke in conversation with Judas Iscariot…”

 

We see that this account is to give a knowledge that one cannot find anywhere else and it is not for everyone.  It is for those who are in the “know”; it is for Gnostics.  Interestingly enough, Judas is the only person in this account who receives the mysteries of the kingdom because Judas alone understands – or knows – who Jesus truly is.

 

C) “You are from the realm of Barbelo…”

 

In fact, not too far into the Gospel of Judas, the disciples are having a thanksgiving meal while Jesus is watching.  As he is watching, he begins to laugh at their ceremony and they wonder why, to which Jesus replies, “I am not laughing at you [You] are not doing this because of your own will but because it is through them that your god [will be] praised.”  Notice already, within the response that the God of the disciples and Jesus are not the same for their god is classified as “your god” as opposed to “our god”.    The disciples say to him in response, “Master, you are…the son of our god.”  The account, so far, is almost parallel to the Matthew 16 account in which the disciples are asked who they think Jesus is.  But Jesus responds to them, “How do you know me?  Truly [I] say to you, no generation of the people that are among you will know me.”  The disciples become infuriated and begin to even “blaspheme him in their hearts”.  Now at this point, Jesus lectures them about their nature for a moment and their inability to attain to the true heavenly home.  Here, Judas tells Jesus that he knows his true identity.  Judas tells Jesus,

 

“I know who you are and where you have come from.  You are from the immortal realm of Barbelo.  And I am not worthy to utter the name of the one who has sent you.”

 

“Barbelo,” according to Gnostic teachings, “Is one of the primary divine beings in the perfect realm of the true God[1].”  Thus, Jesus is not of an earthly origin in any way.  We note also that he has been sent by a “nameless one”.  This “nameless one”, in Gnostic tradition, is the pure spirit from which all other aeons have emanated from.

 

 

D)                 “But you will exceed all of them.  For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.”

 

Here the Gnostic element comes out in that Jesus’ true self - his pure spirit - will be released from the body in which it is trapped.  This will allow Jesus, in a sense, to return back to the realm of Barbelo and be done with the material world. 

 

Without formally examining the remaining passages of the Gospel of Judas, it is clear already from what we know of  Gnosticism and what we have read from the Gospel of Judas, that this ancient text certainly does belong to this group of writings known as the Gnostics Gospels. 

 

IV.  Judas in the New Testament

 

            The Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John don’t reveal too much about Judas since that was not their intention.  However, they do reveal to us enough about his character that leads to his betrayal of Christ.  Initially, we know that he was chosen by Christ as one of the twelve disciples (cf. Matthew 10:4; Mark 3:19; Luke 6:16; Acts 1:17).  The Gospel’s further reveal that he was a treasurer for the group.  However, it also reveals that he did not take upon this endeavor from the goodness of his heart, but rather from its corruption for he was a covetous man and would often take out of the treasury for his own personal gain (cf. John 12:6; 13:29).  Two incidents bring out his covetous and greedy character; the incident where the woman anoints Jesus’ feet (John 12:4-6) and his agreement to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (cf. Matt. 26:14-16; Mark 14:10-11).  Luke 22:3-6 further reveals that “Satan entered Judas” and made use of his already hardened and sinful heart.  How ever we understand Satan’s entering of Judas, we must understand that Judas is not excused.  He was already in a privileged position of being one of the twelve.  He had spent time with Christ and had even been taught directly by Him.  I Peter 5:8-9 exhorts us to resist the devil and he will flee from us.  Obviously, Judas made no attempt to resist Satan and was consumed by a satanic greed for 30 pieces of silver. 

While the betrayal may have been a surprise to the other disciples, even as they were told that one of them would betray Him (John 13:18-30; cf. Matt. 26:17-25), Jesus had known from the beginning whom it was who would betray him.  For instance, in John 6:70-71, Jesus says, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?”  John comments on Jesus’ words and says, “He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.”   Even before this, the Old Testament prophesied about the one who would betray the Messiah.  For instance, Psalm 41:9 says, “Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.”  The obvious reference to the Passover meal and close relationship between Judas and Jesus is noted.  Also, Zechariah 11:12 we read, “Then I said to them, ‘If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.’ So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.”  According to Exodus 21:32, 30 pieces of silver was the price paid for a slave who was gored by an ox.  Thus, the price of 30 pieces of silver is an insulting price to take to betray Christ because it is essentially placing the value of Christ in the heart of Judas as that of a slave.  Judas even unintentionally fulfilled verse 13 of Zechariah 11 by throwing the money in the temple (cf. Matt. 27:3-5).  Following the betrayal and remorse, Judas commits suicide by hanging himself (Matt. 27:5) upon which shortly after, he fell “headlong” and “burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out” (Acts 1:18). 

Thus, the Gospels portray Judas as the supreme traitor for he was chosen by Christ, heard Christ preach, witnessed the miracles of Christ firsthand, and even shared meals with Christ.  He was in a position to have one of the deepest relationships for he even sat at the seat of honor with Christ (cf. John 13:26).  Christ, though he knew Judas would betray him, never denied him the sweetest compassion.  But Judas was not driven in his ministry by love to Christ but by love for money (cf. I Timothy 6:10).  His love for selfish gain led him to commit one of the most heinous acts in all of history; the betrayal of the Son of God into the hands of sinful men. 

 

Summation

 

 

            What is the Gospel of Judas trying to say about Judas that is so radically different about the way the New Testament Gospels present him?  According to the New Testament Gospels, Judas was the betrayer of Christ and an example to all humanity that there can be those who serve Christ outwardly, but inwardly and ultimately, will betray Christ to their own benefit.  However, the Gospel of Judas would have us believe that Judas was actually working together with Christ in order to “sacrifice the man that clothes” Christ in order to release Christ’s spirit.  Judas, thus, instead of being a traitor, is actually the paradigm of what a true believer in Christ should be like.  Judas is the ultimate Gnostic. 

            What this does for us today is to cast doubt on the Scriptures that we do have that teach Judas was wrong and eternally lost.  It attempts to cast doubt upon the interpretation of Christ according to the New Testament Scriptures as we know them and forces us to ask the question of how and why certain books made it into the Bible and why almost 2,000 books, including the Gospel of Judas, were left out.  This we will deal with in our next session.